Ambience: The Lady of the Lake
by FuriabuiaFA-18
Summary: I am tormented by dreams of our death, and grief at what is to come. For in dreams, I have seen the heavens falter, and the stars drop from the sky. In my dreams, creation ceases without a sound. I have seen Destruction...and it is coming. NON-CANON sidestory of Ambience: A Fleet Symphony by Hieda no Akyuu.


**A/N:**

 **Okay, let's get the possible misunderstandings out of the way.  
Yes, this is a fanfic of a fanfic. No, me and Akyuu are not having a partnership; the only thing i did was asking his permission to proceed with writing an idea that I had in mind and that was set in the Ambience universe.  
As he asked me to specify, though, this is a NON CANON story of A:AFS and will remain as such until (if and when) he wishes to accept it as canon.**

 **Why i did it? Because i kind of admire his persistence, and i honestly like his stories.  
"A Fleet Symphony", the one of which this own story will be a fanfic of, is my favorite: It's far from a being a perfect story, both for my taste and for many others. It was rough reading it at first, and more than once i dismissed it as bullshit. But there was something in it that made me come back, again and again, until i grew to like it.**

 **But enough with the praising. I'm not Akyuu, so...if you're reading and liking A:AFS, this story may or may not be for you. Then again, I could say the same if you have read and disliked A:AFS. It really depends on how much you'll enjoy my writing, doesn't it? Oh, and pleeease don't expect tens of thousands of words per chapter, nor updates every two days. As I said...I admire Akyuu's persistence. Which means i cannot possibly produce that much stuff.**

 **Ok, time's up. Time for me to finally go to bed. Enjoy your read!**

* * *

 **Prologue: All is lost...**

"It's no use, Master. It appears a purge of her main processing unit has occurred: there are quite a lot of files remaining, but they are not in a usable condition. The code we're looking for has either been deleted or corrupted."  
Said a short, grey-haired girl. She was not a normal girl: she had a deathly pale skin and glowing, green eyes...and there was a strange, creepy echo in her voice. But the most obvious sign of her freakiness was the big, tentacled xenomorphic "hat" that she donned, which now appeared to be sleeping, its tentacles retracted and its shell curled in on itself.

The master in question, a tall man looking in his mid-thirties who shared the girl's deathly complexion, was currently looking around the dark, candlelit room when he was called. He turned and looked at his companion, and the corpse she was examining. Or to better say, the corpses. A couple, impaled together by a katana through their chests.

"Are you absolutely sure, Wo? That code is very important to me, and to the rest of the abyssals. Is it possible to restore the corrupted parts, at least?" He asked.

The Wo-class slowly shook her head. "Negative. I tried, but they're not simply corrupted: from what I could learn, a...protocol called 'Code Black' has broken up code lines among her entire software and OS, then randomly scrambled the pieces; then it started to delete everything...even in cases like this, where the process was halted by lack of power due to the death of the subject..."

"Yes, yes, blah, blah, blah, we fucking got it! She's toast! She's useless! Aaand you're useless!" Said the other girl standing in the room, waving one of her small, pale hands in an act of boredom and annoyance.

This one was around the same height of the Wo-class, but her hair was shorter, her eyes had a purple glow and the only other remarkable feature, beside the almost skimpy piece of swimwear she was wearing, was a black segmented tail which was now coiled around her left arm, its toothy mouth salivating and drooling all over the place.

"I say we should just take the body and cannibalize it for parts. I for sure would looooove to take a bite off... _or two_." she continued, licking her lips as the tail increased her salivation and unwrapped from her arm. She slowly walked towards the two bodies, who were rigidly embracing each other, even after death had taken hold.

"Re, surely you would not intend to-" The Wo-class tried to object. Key word _tried_. The next instant, she found her neck strangled by a small but very strong hand, and was staring down the eyes of an aviation battleship who wore a very, very mad grin on her face.

"I'm sorry, stupid carrier, did you say something? Do you want to take their place? I'd be happy to oblige!" The Re-class seethed. Then, satisfied by the look of absolute panty-pissing fear on the Wo, she let her throat go and instead pulled her into a hug with one arm, the other beckoning towards the two bodies.

"Come on! Look how cuddly they are! All tender and lovey-dovey, until they died!" She exclaimed, releasing the shocked carrier and starting to jump around the place in an exagerately girly manner. Then, she fell on her knees before the corpses, slapping her hands on her cheeks like a bashful maiden.

"And look, looklooklook, even death did not separate them! That's sooooo romantic! Don't you just want to... _eat them_?" As her tone of voice changed from obscenely girly to deranged, Her tail raised itself up in the air and bared its fangs, ready to pounce.

" **Enough**." Interrupted a man's voice.

"But...but Xenolith, come on- _gaah!_ "

The man slowly raised his hand with which he slapped the crazy battleship.  
"It's 'Master Xenolith' for you. And you will leave this couple lying here as they are."

He looked at his two subordinates, then at the two dead bodies, one boy and one shipgirl lying entwined and half-submerged in a shallow pool, and sighed.

"They were fools. But they were brave fools. They had the courage to defy us at the cost of their own life, and I respect that. Which means that you too will respect their sacrifice, and leave the dead to their rest. Did I make myself clear?"

The Re-class tried to protest one last time: "...but Master, the orders were- _aahh!_ "

Xenolith slapped her again. "Did. I. Make. Myself. Clear?" He asked again, calmly.

"...yes, Master Xenolith." Weakly answered the Re-class, massaging her cheeks.  
She slowly got up and wrapped her tail around her arm again, before heading out of the room.

Xenolith and the Wo-class followed suit, into a long and decorated stone corridor, lit by numerous torches. He stopped at a precise point in the stone corridor and pulled a lever, causing a big smooth slab of white marble to fall and block the entrance of the dead lovers's resting place. They then turned around and traversed the rest of the corridor, coming to a flight of stairs atop which the Re-class was waiting them.

Before reaching the top, the Wo-class leaned towards her master and asked: "Re does have a point, Sir. Master Sheriff ordered us to bring back the shipgirl alive if possible, and if she died we were to take back the body...shouldn't we really..?"

Hearing this, the man's eyes narrowed into a frown, and a disgusted expression imprinted itself on his lips. "The Sheriff will just have to find something else on which to vent his nauseous libido. Possibly his own hand."

The Wo-class bit back a smirk. "I understand. There's another question...what do we do about the human survivors, Master?"

By now they had reached the exit of the stairs, which led into a richly decorated room inside a large villa. As soon as they exited, a section of wall moved to cover the entrance to the passage they came out from, masking its very existence.

"Execute them. They followed their Lady into her foolishness...it's only fitting that they die with her. Round them up into this villa, and seal the exits. Then, bombard it. I don't want to see a single stone standing when we leave this island."

If it was possible, the Wo-class would have paled even more. "But, Master, they're just boys! There are children here...! We can't...Sir!" She pleaded in a small, small voice.

"Are you by any chance questioning my orders? A boy and a girl exactly like them have just set our scientific progress back to almost zero on the fleet enhancement program! Either you do it, or I will have Re-class here do it!" The man shouted, for the first time since he disembarked on the island. The Wo-class gulped and stood still.

"Oh, pleeeeease allow me?" Asked Re, with glistening eyes and a psychopathic grin. Xenolith looked at Wo, who was still paralyzed, and nodded. The Re-class went running out, the movement prompting the Wo-class to rouse herself. She then launched a look of sadness and resentment at Xenolith, and followed suit.

The Abyssal then looked at the bracer on his left arm, and pushed a pair of buttons; after a while, a garbled voice called him from it, with an annoyed tone to it. " _Yes, Sheriff here…Xenolith, what is it?_ "

"Mister Sheriff, we have neutralized the objective. Unfortunately, project Troy…has been lost. The subject suicided, and the prototype code was deleted. We will have to start from the baseline if we want to replicate the project."

" _God damn, Xenolith! I told you that it was too risky to send the prototype away already! And who the fuck had the brilliant idea to not make a backup?_ " The voice replied, angry. " _I also thought I told you to bring her back alive! Are your abyssal not capable enough to subdue and kidnap one simple bitch!? I will talk to the rest of the Administration, but I cannot hope to influence them if they decide not to revitalize the project. What about the body? Did you find it?_ " The Sheriff asked.

"Unrecoverable. It is buried in a cave of solid granite, inside a mine. Our attempts to blast our way through have only resulted in more collapses, and have worsened the situation" The man said, hiding a smirk. He could hear the sound of furniture splintering on the other side of the line.

He could also hear frighteningly loud screams of horror and pain coming from multiple voices outside the villa…one of which appeared to be female, and with an eerie echo to it. He scowled and clenched his fist, before composing himself and speaking again in a neutral tone.

"Mr. Sheriff, if I may suggest…"

"…" silence came from the other end, before the voice answered again, clearly shaking with anger. "Yes…?"

"…Our new Re-class battleship's performance today was absolutely outstanding, and she was the most…enthusiastic, in battling the enemy. However, she clearly has…difficulties…in maintaining discipline, and this has caused some _unpleasant_ and _unwanted_ accidents. Especially bothersome is the case in which such _accidents_ involve other abyssals. I hope I made myself understood."

"Of course. Please, do send her to my office on your return. I will take it on myself to… _discipline_ her appropriately."

* * *

Evening came, and two pairs of boys and girls slowly woke from a dreamless slumber, all four of them left for dead by the abyssals in the island's gardens. As they rose, a strange sensation enveloped them: it all seemed so peaceful…so quiet. So eerie. The beautiful gardens of the island were intact, all along the beaten path they took as they slowly made their way towards the villa. Then, as they neared the Lady's residence, they saw the fire consuming what was left of it…illuminating the scene of a carnage.

The bodies of their friends and kindred were covering the ground, which was awash with blood: some were torn apart so violently that their innards spilled out and were sprawled in a macabre artwork; some looked like they were eaten…possibly while they were still alive, judging by the horrified expression on their faces.

"The kids! Where are the kids?!" Cried one of the girls, running towards the burning ruins of the Lady's residence. Then, a loud, horrible cry, and the rest of the quartet reached her. She found them.  
Husks charred beyond recognition, their black bones mixed here and there. And their skulls, they showed such a suffering to haunt their dreams for the rest of their lives.

"Lady protect them…" whispered the other teenage girl present, a brunette. Suddenly she heard a retching sound behind her, and saw the youngest of her companions, a very young boy with blonde hair, hunched over and throwing up profusely.

"Protect them?! …from _what_ , exactly? It's too late! It's _too fucking late!_ " Shouted the other boy present, this one looking in his mid-teens, as he ran to the side of the vomiting child and held him up. "Come on, come on buddy, I got ya." He encouraged him, before turning to the brunette who spoke before. "She's gone! The Grand Master is gone, too! They failed, and the rest of us paid for it..!"

"But…but…the potion she gave us worked, didn't it? We are alive now..!" the girl asked, meekly.

"Only because she gave us a mission, remember? She didn't care about anything else, sister! Only this!"  
He said, pulling out a flat, elliptical-shaped object from his robes. It was made of a highly reflective metallic material, which was glistening under the dim light of the dancing flames, and had two lights: one which was permanently off, and a slowly blinking purple one.

"I…We lost our faith long ago. This-" he said, scoffing and playing with the object in his hands, "-means nothing to me. She, on the other hand…"  
He sighed, and looked at the remaining member of their group, the one who first discovered the fate of the poor kids: a beautiful, slim-bodied blue haired girl who was examining the only corpse of an abyssal present in the slaughter. It was a short humanoid one with long, grey hair who had her throat torn out savagely, like it was bitten off. The rest of the body was remarkably intact, though.

"I will remain here." Resumed the boy, "I will bury our friends, I will mourn. And here I will live out the rest of my days, simply, with the girl I love. The Grand Master taught us all how to do this, at least…and I'm grateful for it. We will watch over the gardens…and the tombs. _No one_ shall disturb us nor desecrate the dead. This, I swear."

The girl in question, overhearing this, rose up from the abyssal's corpse and walked over to the others. Her eyes were reddened, and tears were descending down her cheeks. "H-he is r-right. L-living as we had for the past year, after we got taken as p-payment for the great heresy, was not so bad. We should stay, claim the island as our own, and live our lives in peace. Is it such a bad future for us all?" She said with a sad, simple smile as she embraced the black-haired, tall boy.

"But what of the task that was bestowed upon us? The lady may be gone, but I still trust her words."  
The brunette said, gulping and clenching her fist to keep her voice from breaking.

"If we find her sisters, and they are even nearly as powerful as she was, we will avenge her! We will avenge the Lady, the Grand Master, and all of our friends who perished here! She has given us purpose, and I intend to fulfil her wish, as I always did. Please…I don't want t-to leave you behind, I want you with me in the j-journey to America! I don't want to be alone, but…but I cannot stay in this place. The island…reeks of death now, death and suffering…I-I can't…"

She stopped, her voice breaking up. She fell on her knees, put her hands on her face, and started crying.

Seeing her, the others followed suit, and the quartet hugged tightly and stayed together for the rest of the night.  
They did when they entered the still intact tools depot and equipped themselves.  
They did when they were digging three rows of tombs, in the raised terraces overlooking the lake.  
They did as they buried their friends in those tombs, and as they buried their enemy...in the dark, cold waters of the lake.

As dawn came, no more they were together.  
Farewells had been said, and tears had been shed.  
Two departed in an arduous endeavour, to find three sisters and to them bring  
The last, dreaded vestige of the one which their hearts were missing.

Two remained instead as watchers grim  
For the dead must rest and the island's secrets kept.  
And years from this time, stories would be told  
Of the bloodied isle, from which nobody ever returned.

And fishermen would swear, on their daughters dear  
Than in stormy days a ghost would appear.  
An ethereal beauty, young and pure  
With fair skin, and hair blue.

She looked at them, as the rain poured  
Shook her mane, and her voice she freed.  
Her tone was delicate, and sad was her song  
As she always remembered a time now lost:

"Wolves asleep amidst the trees…"


End file.
